


Roots run deep

by Fangirl_exe_is_gone



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Collage, Hanahaki Angst, Hanahaki Disease, Heavy Angst, Hurt, M/M, Modern Era, Possible Character Death, collage AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23662240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fangirl_exe_is_gone/pseuds/Fangirl_exe_is_gone
Summary: Best friends for years, closer than you would think, in a world where harbored feelings can get you killed, what could go wrong? Way too long Way too angsty Hanahaki au, enjoy my lovelys. :)
Relationships: Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Kudos: 4





	Roots run deep

Keith knocked on the familiar door, heart leaping with joy as he heard the doorknob  _ click _ open. Lance stood on the other side of the now open door, beaming happily at the boy in front of him. This was the first time that they had a chance to meet up in weeks and were over the moon at the chance to have time together. Keith stepped forward, gleefully wrapping his arms around Lance in a tight hug. Lance melted into him, breathing in the touch of his best friend. 

“I was planning on inviting Pidge and Hunk over, but I felt it might be nicer to just have a night for the two of us.” A familiar flutter sounded in Keith’s chest, making way for a pink tint across his cheekbones. Flashing a warm smile to the other boy, he shuffled into the cozy apartment, slipping his Vans off in the doorway. 

“What’d you want to do tonight?” 

“Maybe some Chinese and movies? Don’t really feel like anything fancy tonight.”

“Sounds great.” He threw his bag into Lance’s second room (one that was technically a studio but had a spare bed and often housed Keith when he stayed over) before flopping down onto the couch and grabbing the remote. Over the last two years, this had easily become Keith’s second home. He and Lance had clicked immediately, bonding over anything and everything that they could. 

“Hey Lance, can I pick the movie?”

“Sure; after it starts, I’ll call in the food,” he called from his bedroom where, Keith guessed, he was changing into something comfier. Lance walked back out, wearing his blue sharpshooter hoodie with grey sweatpants. It perfectly complimented Keith’s own red samurai hoodie and black sweatpants.  _ Two halves to a whole… _

“Wasn’t expecting you this early.” 

“Oh sorry, traffic was lighter than I expected.”

“Oh, I’m not complaining.” He gave off that classic Lance grin that always stirred something in Keith’s chest. 

“Nice sweatshirt by the way,” he smirked. Lance flopped down onto the couch next to him, facing Keith. 

“Thought it was fitting, considering what you’re wearing.” Shaking his head in a laugh, Keith continued to scroll through Netflix, looking for the perfect show or movie. They settled into a comfortable silence, alone from the  _ click  _ of the remote as he scrolled. 

“I KNOW!” Keith shouted unexpectedly through fits of laughter. Clicking to the search tab, he began punching in letters as quickly as possible. 

“What is it?”

“You’ll see.”

“Keeiitthhhhf,” Lance pouted. While his eyes were still locked on the other boy, Keith moved quickly, hitting play before Lance had a chance to see what it was. The screen flashed through the production company’s start-up, then began the opening scene. 

“ _ Keith.  _ You are  _ kidding me, _ ” Lance groaned, head falling back on the couch. 

“What? Have a problem with my choice?” 

“You  _ know _ how much I hate this movie.”

“Oh, do I?” Lance turned his smile to Keith, eyes locking. 

“Yes, bitch, you do.” The raven-haired boy was struggling to keep his composure, something common when he was around Lance. Finally giving in, he broke out in a fit of giggles, practically tipping over onto the side of the couch. 

“Oh c’mon, it’s not  _ that _ bad,”

“IT  _ IS THAT BAD _ AND YOU KNOW IT!” Lance’s own laughter echoed through the apartment, and despite his protests, he made no effort to grab the remote. Truth was, he was enjoying this, with Keith. 

“ _ Zombieland _ is a cinematic masterpiece, thank you very much.” Lance groaned, getting up and spinning on his heel into the kitchen. 

“I’ll call in the food. Usual good?”

“Mhm, but I’m pausing the movie. I’m not letting you miss  _ any _ of it.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” Lance called. “Bully,” he finished, mumbling under his breath just loud enough for Keith to hear. A stifled laugh came from the other room, making way for a smile on the other boy’s lips as he picked up his phone to dial. 

Muffled talking came from the kitchen as Lance placed their order for food. Keith sunk back into the couch, wrapped in his own thoughts. He had to tell Lance. It’s getting harder and harder to cover it up when they hang out, and he deserved to know what was going on to him. After all, they had shared practically everything with each other in the last couple of years, so why was this so different? So bad? Well, that was an easy question to answer. This wasn’t going to end in them getting through it together, or figuring a way out. No. This could only end one way.

A weight on the couch shook him out of thought. Lance glanced to him, “Food should be here in about 45 minutes, I- Keith? Are you ok?” 

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” 

“ _ Keith.” _

“Okay, okay, I’m not fine. Could we talk about this later though?” 

“Promise?” Lance questioned, holding his pinky out. Lance always made him promise this way, and Keith would always call it cheesy and childish, but he had always thought that it was adorable. Keith extended his pinky as well, tightly wrapping it around the other boy’s. 

“Promise.”

They continued the movie, Lance making jabs about how bad it was and Keith defending it as whole-heartedly as he could. Soon enough, the doorbell rang and Lance lept to the door. After handing over cash and waving a hand for the delivery girl to keep the change, he returned to the couch with a teetering tower of boxes. Keith helped to order them on the table, opening them all to see what he wanted first. 

“No spring rolls?” he pouted in disappointment when he noticed the lack of a small wax paper bag. 

“Nope,” Lance replied with a grin as he set three small bags on the table.

“Extra!” he cheered excitedly, gladly ripping into one of the bags. After promptly shoving one in his mouth, Keith fell back into the cushions, nodding his head in satisfaction. He then caught Lance’s eye, raising an eyebrow back at him. 

“What?” he mumbled through spring roll. Lance felt a familiar tingle run through him. Through his heart. Through his lungs. Keith noticed the pause in energy and sat up in an instant. 

“Something wrong?” 

“No- it’s just- nevermind.” Keith wasn’t taking that as an answer and promptly stuck his pinky out to Lance.

“Promise?” Shooting him a shy smile, Lance sighed and linked their pinkies for the second time that night. 

Bellies full and movie finished, they sat on the couch in silence a bit closer to each other than they needed to. 

“Keith…”

“Yeah, I know, I promised. This started about four months ago… and I’m not sure why it’s still as mild as it is. That’s why I haven’t told anyone.” Keith took a shaky breath as Lance’s own nerves spiked. All he could do was pray this wasn’t what it sounded like. 

“I have Hanahaki. It’s… I went to a doctor and they can’t explain why it’s developing so slow, but I’m thankful for it. It’s giving me more time to figure out what I want to do… I haven’t even told my mom yet. I’m not sure how.” 

“Oh, Keith….” Lance moved towards him, wasting no time pulling him into a soft hug. Almost immediately he started crying, the tears flowing fast and heavy. 

“Hey, hey, we can figure this out, okay? Together. Like always.” Keith pulled away, hurt shining in his eyes. As if on cue he went into a coughing fit, his lungs burning as flowers spilled out of his mouth and onto his and Lance’s lap. 

“Sor-sorry,” he choked out in between stray petals. Glancing up to meet Lance’s eyes, he was met with terror. 

“Lance! I promise it’s not as bad as it looks, I can still breathe fine-”

“Keith. Those are forget-me-nots, do you know how bad those are? The chances of you surviving surgery are so low-” 

“Look, look at me.” He grabbed Lance’s hands in his own and gave them a squeeze. “I’m not sure what I’m gonna do, but don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine, ok?” Lance quickly calmed down, his breathing slowing to normal. It was so like Keith to brush an important topic to the side, deciding that he had to handle it alone, but now wasn’t the time to argue with him. There was one more thing to get straight. 

“Who?” 

“I… I don’t wanna say.”

Lance dropped his voice, locking his eyes on violet, “It’s okay, I won’t judge.”

“Until I tell them, I don’t wanna tell anyone. It’s not that I don’t trust you, not that at all.”

“That’s ok, take your time, just not too much,” Lance finished with a wink. 

“Oh my god, I’m literally dying and you have the audacity to wink at me.”

“Hey, gotta keep up that loverboy appearance no matter what, am I right?” Both giggling, they settled back in, some of the tension melting away. 

“So, what was up earlier?”

“Oh, um, was just thinking about an argument I had with Ronnie; nothing that important that I want to trouble you with.”

“Oh okay, but if you wanna rant about it, I’m all ears.”

“Thanks, Keith.”

“Yeah, of course.” 

“I’m taking it you’re done talking about your Hanahaki?”

“Noticed my quick subject change, huh?” Keith glanced away, a slight tinge dusting his cheekbones 

“Of course, Mullet. I know you way too well to miss something like that.”

“Lance, let's be honest, the mullet’s been gone for some time now.”

“You'll always be Mullet to me.”

“Ha-haLoverboy, someday you'll have no choice but to admit it.” 

“Ohhhh I'm ‘Loverboy’ now, huh? Finally come around to adopting my most accurate nickname?”

Keith gave Lance a shove; “Oh fuck off, and don’t let it get to your head.” 

“Wouldn't  _ dream _ of it.” 

“Wanna watch another movie? My pick this time, obviously. I'm not sitting through another one of your…  _ choices, _ ” Lance finished with a side-eye cast towards the boy next to him.  __

_ “ _ Honestly if rather just go to bed at this point.”

“Ok, well, before that, wanna watch vines?” 

A smile poked at Keith's cheeks as he locked eyes again with Lance. “Hell yeah.” 

  
  


“Ooook then, c’mon.” Lance stood up, his hand stretching out behind him and towards Keith. There was a look that flashed across Keith's face, gone before Lance had a chance to catch what it meant but it set something deep inside his chest fluttering, bursting farther into his lungs as Keith took his hand and hauled himself up. Lance began to move across the space towards his own room. They'd spent countless nights curled up in Lance’s bed watching videos, just scrolling through Tik Tok or Instagram, or even fallen asleep together, but something felt different tonight. Don't get him wrong, Lance treasured those moments greatly and was flustered to the max during them, but tonight, Keith's confession of his disease, the way they joked, the flush across his cheeks, something just hit him differently. He was so close to placing his finger on it but…. 

  
  


“Lance? Are you ok?” His voice shook Lance out of thought, the warmth in this hand was gone. They were suddenly in the doorway to his room, Keith now in front of him looking concerned. 

“I-”

“Seriously this time, I know that there's more going on than an argument between you and your sister. I'm not going to ask you to tell me if you really don't want to, but please Lance, honestly promise me that you’ll tell me before it gets serious and you know what I mean by that.” Of course he did. It was just a fact of life that any pent up emotions could easily trigger a disease. Hanahaki was the most common, but even anger could kill you with enough time. 

  
  


Lance nodded, hot tears beginning to brim in his eyes. Keith took his hands and led him the rest of the way into the bedroom, giving them a reassuring squeeze before letting go and settling in.

\---------

  
  


Cool morning light filtered through the narrow apartment window, casting shadows across the sleeping boys. The city was waking up, people taking their commutes to work, grabbing breakfast with friends, wandering the streets in search of the right shop. They had ended up falling asleep fairly quickly, the events of the night tiring them out. 

Lance’s mind began to stir, consciousness starting to float into his head. He soon became acutely aware of the warm body pressed against his, pulling himself closer to it until it hit him who it was that he was currently spooning. He did his best not to move, wanting to avoid disturbing his best friend as best he could, hoping that Keith wasn’t already awake and had noticed him moving closer at first. His hopes were not fulfilled. 

“Lance? Are you awake?” A voice mumbled from below his arm. 

“Just barely, how long have you been up for?” Lance prayed that it wasn’t long and that he wasn’t uncomfortable yet. 

“Not that long, but if you don’t mind could we stay here for a bit longer? I’m still a little tired,” Lance did his best to suppress a shudder but couldn’t stop a shaky breath from escaping his lips that Keith definitely noticed due to the proximity of their heads. 

“Yeah, that’s fine,” Lance let his muscles fully relax again, taking his first real breath of the morning. That was a mistake. His nose flooded with Keith. He could still smell the faintest hint of Chinese on him, mixed with his normal cinnamon-sandalwood cologne. It was absolutely intoxicating. His heart was buzzing, screaming to pull Keith closer, grab his hand, kiss his head, anything, but he resisted. He loved someone else, it wouldn’t be right. He was probably imagining that Lance was him right now. 

The morning slowly turned to afternoon, and they were forced to get up by nothing more than the fact that Keith had a class that evening. Neither of them said anything about the night before or even earlier that morning, choosing to instead make small talk about school and friends. 

“Hey, Lance? I should… I need to get going…” 

“Ok, yeah.” Keith left the kitchen heading back towards the hall leading to the bedrooms, quickly grabbing his bag from the studio. 

They stood in silence for a minute, the air hanging heavy around them. 

“Keith, if you need anything,”

“Yeah, I know,” Lance wrapped his arms around him for the last time that day, not wanting to ever let go. 

“Stay safe, ok? See you soon.”

“See you soon too, Lance”

Lance watched Keith take a few steps down the hallway before closing the door and letting out a sigh. His mind was racing, struggling to make sense of everything that had transpired. Keith had hanahaki, for someone else, while Lance had it for him. Keith also  _ wanted _ to cuddle, clearly substituting Lance for someone else. He also now had to tell Keith that he was sick as well. Things were not going as planned. He moved for his phone, shooting Hunk a quick text that they needed to meet up. Setting it down he collapsed back into the couch, already missing Keith’s warmth.

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter one!!! I'm trying to get a chapter up every two weeks, no promises tho. You can find me and my work on Instagram at @fangirl.exe.is.gone as well, hope you like it so far!


End file.
